Reality Check
by Cheeky-Chick1only
Summary: When Goku came back for the day for the tournament the last thing he was expecting was for his son to give him a long overdue reality check. Slight swearing


It was the day of the tournament and everyone was excited waiting for Goku to arrive. Well, almost everyone.

"C'mon Gohan, don't be such a grumpy gus, help us look for your dad." Krillen called.

Before Gohan could respond Goku appeared and started catching up with his friends. Nobody seemed to notice that Gohan was growing angrier by the second.

Finally Yamcha seemed to notice his anger and said, "Chill dude, what's your problem? Goku's here and—"

"You don't get it! None of you get it! You don't understand what it's like to live with him." Gohan screamed, unable to hold back his frustration. "You all think he's this great guy but he is a terrible father and husband."

Goku looked shocked. "How can you say that? I've always put you and your mom first."

Gohan snorted, eyes filled with derision, "You have never chosen your family. The only thing that matters to you at all is fighting!"

Krillen tried to step in now, feeling that Gohan had gone too far. "C'mon now kid. That's not fair, your dad did the best he could."

Gohan looked at him with pity, "What isn't fair is the way he treats people. I have seen how sad everyone gets when he leaves, does he care? Does he care that every time he leaves on some great adventure my mom—his wife—cries herself to sleep every night? If he did he wouldn't keep doing it!"

Everyone stared at Gohan in shock. Goku looked stunned, "Your mother cries to sleep?"

Gohan stared at him, not being able to believe he was really that stupid, "Of course she does. Why wouldn't she with the stuff you've pulled? She's not as strong as you seem to think. She needs help. Because you haven't given her that help she's had to rely on me. And she feels guilty that she needs me to help out so much. She isn't well suited for work and so money is always tight. And do you have any idea how much energy it takes to look after a demisaiyan, let alone two? No because you've never done it!"

Goku frowned then, "I helped raise you—"

Gohan cut him off, "No you didn't. You were around the first four years and then you were never really a parent ever again. Think about my childhood:

"When I was four you died. I understand that there was nothing you could have done to avoid that, but you chose to stay dead in order to train. With the saiyans coming I can understand that, but tell me, did you ever think about me? Did you ever even wonder how I was? Did you even know Piccolo kidnapped me? If you did, did you even care? Piccolo was your enemy and nothing you knew about him should have given you a reason to think I was safe with him."

From the look on Goku's face it was obvious that he hadn't given his son a second thought. However, Gohan didn't let up, "And I blame YOU for Piccolo dying!" Everyone in the room looked at him then in surprise. Goku, shocked, said, "How? I wasn't even there!"

"Exactly! You obviously were strong enough to beat Nappa so where were you when everybody was dying? You told me that you finished your training and left immediately and that King Kai just didn't tell you what day it was. But I asked you about your journey on snake way. You fell asleep on the back of a car and fell into hell. And then you had to start all over again. Tell me, how many people wouldn't have died if you hadn't done that." The looks on everyone's faces were shocked and the Z fighters were beginning to grow a little angry, had they really died just because Goku had been an idiot?

"And let's assume that falling and starting over was inevitable, you also told me about Princess Snake. You stopped at her place to eat. You were dead but you couldn't control your stomach. And I've seen you eat, you had to have been there for hours. You even went to a damn hot spring! How many lives were lost because of that little detour?"

Everyone stared at Goku as if they had never seen him before. How could he talk so much about putting people's lives first and then screw around like that?

Gohan panted a little, knowing he was getting too worked up, "Now in the fight between you and Vegeta you learned just how evil and murderous he was and you knew that you weren't really a match for him. And you let him go. Now don't get me wrong, it worked out well but there was no point in that fight where you should have received and inclination that leaving him alive was a good idea. Why'd you do it? Oh right, he was a good fight and you wanted to fight him again.

"Now let's move on to Namek. I accept that there was no way you could have gotten there sooner but tell me, you knew Vegeta was on planet and you also knew Frieza was there. Were you concerned about my safety at all? I know you were excited about the challenge, but did you even think about whether or not I was safe?" The look on Goku's face told them all the truth, he hadn't thought of his son at all.

"I didn't think so. Now let's just move on to when the planet exploded. We thought you died. We mourned your death. Do you have any idea how mom felt when I told her you were dead? That's right, I had to tell her. Do you know how that makes us feel? Do you have any idea what that kind of thing does to a person? And despite our grief we still had hope, we still had the dragon balls. So we waited and then we are all set to be reunited with you when we find out that you aren't dead at all! You're just off training somewhere, it's not like you have a family that was waiting for you. Two years you were off training. This brings us to a total of three years without you.

"And then the stuff about the androids. With the advance warning we could have made sure that Dr. Gero never created the androids. You said it wasn't right to kill him for something he hadn't done yet. What about all the stuff he'd done that you knew he'd never been punished for? He'd more than earned death! And you said it yourself you wanted the androids made because you wanted to fight them. And then when there were more than two and we were totally unprepared, where were you? You'd caught the heart virus and we were left by ourselves."

The Z fighters were looking amongst themselves now. They'd never allowed themselves to admit how bitter they had been about that and now that they were they could feel themselves growing angry with their longtime friend.

"And then Cell." Gohan broke off here, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. "We had advance warning about that as well. We trained hard for it. At some point, I don't know when, it's not like you ever discussed the idea with me," Gohan snorted before continuing, "you came up with the brilliant idea of having me fight Cell. You also decided not to tell me. SO when the time came I had absolutely no clue what was going on. You threw me to the dogs. And do you remember what you did then? You gave Cell a senzu. I remember Krillen and Piccolo yelling at you for that. Do you remember what you said? You said it wouldn't be a fair fight. Your eleven year old son is fighting a being you couldn't defeat and you knew that if I lost I would die. But that wasn't as important as seeing a good fight. Tell me, when did a fair fight become more important to you than my life?"

Goku looked so lost. It was plain that he had never really considered his son's safety, he really had just been eager for a fight. The rest of the gang, particularly Chi-Chi and Piccolo felt their anger growing even deeper.

"I told Cell the truth about why you wanted me to fight and he decided to bring my power out. You stood there and watched him torture me. And it was torture. First it was physical and you stood there and watched with a _goddamn smile on your face!_"

The Z fighters were startled to realize that they remembered a smile on his face. They remembered his total lack of care for his child's pain. Chi-Chi, Roshi, Bulma, Goten and Trunks were staring at Goku, horrified to hear that he had been so callous.

"Piccolo managed to convince you that despite the fact that I was screaming in pain I was not, in fact, having the time of my life. Why does Piccolo have to explain anything about me to you? Why did he have to tell you anything? Why didn't you already know? Didn't you realize that I had never actually tried to use my hidden power? Did you ever stop to think there was a reason for that? Android 16 only knew me a week and he told me that he knew how much I hated fighting, why didn't you know that? And then when I did snap I hated it. I was so out of control. It even led to your death.

"And now you had died again. I managed to overpower Cell and save the world. All that was left was you coming back to life. But nooooo, there were training opportunities in the afterlife. Did you ever consider how your death affected me? I as good as killed you and you choose to go off on another adventure rather than come back to your family. And as for that crap about all the villains being after you, I say bullshit. Radditz may have looked for you when he got here but this planet had apparently been sold so he would have come eventually anyway. And you heard Vegeta and Nappa, they didn't care Radditz dies, they came for the dragon balls. Yes Frieza came for you but that's because you were stupid enough to leave him alive. And Trunks defeated them in no time at all, what kept you from doing it? You could teleport! What stopped you from teleporting into their ship and killing them before they even got here? If you were so concerned for the planet why did you wait for them to get here?"

Everybody was shocked and they were staring at Goku. Had he really been playing with them for this long without them realizing?

"And you knew about the androids in advance and had two years to deal with it before it became a threat. And if you had then Cell wouldn't have been able to power up and then there would never have been an issue. So tell me, _Dad,_" he said in a mocking tone, "At what point have you been this concerned parent and wonderful friend? I have an entire life full of you always choosing to be selfish, go train, stop to eat, do what you want, at what point have you every really put someone else first?"

Goku just looked at his son. When confronted with all of his mistakes he couldn't think of a single thing to say. Was he really such a horrible person? How had he never realized what a terrible father he was?

Gohan stared at his father, finally calm. He said, "Now, seven years later there isn't a place for you in my life. I have been a father to Goten in ways you have never been able to understand and I am an adult. Mom and your friends may be willing to put up with you, but I will not do it again. And I won't let you put Goten through what you did to me. Because even after all this time you still haven't changed, you still pick fighting."

Goku, through his distress, managed to ask, "What do you mean?"

Gohan glared at him, "You were told you could come back for one day. You could have picked your anniversary, someone's birthday, anything, and you chose the World Martial Arts Tournament. A day where you could fight. Did you even consider just spending a day with your family?"

Goku hung his head and said, almost in a whisper, "No."

Chi-Chi, hearing this, finally let her tears fall. She walked up to the man she loved and said, "Goku, I want a divorce. And I want you to stay away from my children." With that, Gohan, Goten and Chi-Chi left, slowly followed by every single one of Goku's former friends. None looked back at the broken and sobbing man.


End file.
